State of the Races 9/27

The Rays, Tribe, and Rangers all won (again!), so it’s still TB 1 over CLE 1 over TEX. Tampa Bay plays in Toronto the next 3 days (so any chance of them not playing the wild card game is probably gone), while Cleveland continue their 4-game set in Minnesota, and the Rangers do the same with the Angels in Arlington. Both the Indians and Rangers won 6-5, but in completely different fashions, as Texas eked out a win thanks to a walk-off blast in an error-fest of a game that was tied for the last few innings, while Cleveland tried hard to squander a 6-1 lead in the 9th (Chris Perez is just not that good and had to be replaced for the last out after bringing the winning run to the plate). The Rays rolled the Yanks 4-0. Thanks a lot, Yankees, please enjoy your meaningless series in Houston now (I *do* hope Mariano plays center field for a few innings and records at least one out there…he also has a chance to lower his lifetime WHIP to under 1.000 if he can get at least two outs without giving up a hit or walk). The AL division leaders were idle yesterday; today, it’s BOS (96-63) @ BAL, OAK (94-65) @ SEA, and DET (93-66) @ MIA.

Atlanta won (94-65), St. Louis was idle (94-65), and the Dodgers lost (91-68). LAD is now almost a lock for the 3-seed, but it’s not official yet as they hold the tiebreaker against the Cards (if St. Louis were swept and the Dodgers sweep). The Braves have the tiebreaker advantage against both the Cardinals and Dodgers if it comes to that. The Bucs and Reds were both idle yesterday. As mentioned recently, today begins the series in Cincinnati between those teams, a series which will almost certainly decide homefield in the wild card game–whoever takes at least 2 of 3 gets the wild card game home field…unless somehow the Pirates sweep and the Cards are swept.

Two, Cano wants 10 years / $ 305 Mil. That sounds about right to me. I would not mind seeing him going over to the NL, this probably meaning the Dodgers. But if the Yankees grant him his wish I would not mind that either. What I really like is Dustin Pedroia’s contract.

Three, I believe the Red Sox need to re-sign Salty who’s improved tremendously this year and is still only 28 years old.

A few more years of Jacoby in center field would be nice too, I’m sure they can find a place for JBJr elsewhere in the outfield.

And I really, really want Cleveland in the ALDS. And Christmas in October …